Dr. E. Johan Foster
Curriculum Vitae
Personal
Nationality: Canadian
Address Work:
Adolphe Merkle Institute
University of Fribourg
P.O. Box 209
CH-1723 Marly 1, Switzerland
Office Phone: +41 (0)26 300 9281
Office Fax: +41 (0)26 300 9624
e-mail: johan.foster@unifr.ch
Private:
Rue de l’Industrie 9
1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
General Research Expertise and Interests:
Advanced Functional and Supramolecular (Nano)Materials: Design, synthesis, processing and
investigation of functional polymers, supramolecular materials, and nanocomposites; materials with
unusual optical, electrical and mechanical properties; stimuli-responsive materials; biomimetic and
biomedical materials, non-covalent interactions.
Positions
2010 - Present Group Leader, Maître-Assistant, Scientific Collaborator, Polymer Chemistry and
Materials, University of Fribourg. Head of the Advanced Cellulosic Materials
Group (10-12 Students)
2007 - 2009
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (w. Prof. Dr. E. W. Bert’ Meijer), Department of
Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, The
Netherlands
2006
Independent Lecturer, Simon Fraser University, Canada
2002 – 2006
Research and Teaching Assistant, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Education
2002 - 2006
1997 - 2002
Dissertation, Dept. of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Canada
(w. Prof. V. Williams)
Degree awarded: Ph.D Chemistry
Undergraduate Education in Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Degree awarded: B.Sc Chemistry
Journals Refereed
Polymers, Polymer Bulletin, ACS Macro Letters, Journal of Applied Polymer Science,
Biomacromolecules, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A, Industrial & Engineering
Chemistry Research, Journal of Polymer Science: Part A.
Paper and Talk Metrics
280 Citations. H Factor of 9. Average Citations per article 19. Top cited article: 67
2 Cover Articles (JACS and JPSA)
2 Patents submitted
14 Invited talks
Selected Presentations
2013
Talk at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, USA
April 15th, 2013, Oral Pres.: “Stimuli Responsive Nanocomposites Based on
Functionalized Cellulose Nanofibers” Invited Talk
2013
American Chemical Society Spring Conference, New Orleans, LA, USA
April 11th, 2013. Oral Pres.: “Photo-responsive mechanically adaptive bionanocomposites” Invited Talk and Session Chair
2013
COST Action FP 1003: Impact of renewable materials in packaging for sustainability development of renewable fibre and bio-based materials for new packaging applications.
March 21st, 2013. Oral Pres. “Stimuli-responsive mechanically adaptive bionanocomposites based on cellulose nanocrystals” Invited Talk
2013
8th International Congress and Exhibition: Forum Life Science. Munich, Germany
March 13-14, 2013. Oral Pres. “Bio-Inspired Mechanically Responsive
Polymer Nanocomposites for Medical Applications” Invited Talk
2012
Micro- et Nanotechnologies dans les matériaux et processus pour l'industrie européenne
des polymères. Fribourg, Switzerland
Nov 22nd, 2012. Oral Pres.: “Development and Fabrication of Nanocomposites from
Polymers and Cellulose Nanocrystals” Invited Talk
2012
DGM FA-Sitzung Polymerwerkstoffe und BIM (Bio-Inspired Materials), Golm,DE
Nov 9th, 2012. Oral Pres.: “Bio-Inspired Mechanically-Adaptive Polymer/Cellulose
Nanofiber Nanocomposites” Invited Talk
2012
American Chemical Society Fall Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA
August 22nd, 2012. Oral Pres.: “Mechanically-adaptive bionanocomposites for biomedical
applications” Invited Talk
2012
2012 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Resources,
Montreal, QC, Canada
June 5th, 2012. Oral Pres.: “Cellulose composites with light-responsive behaviour”
Invited Talk and Session Chair
2012
Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference, Calgary, AB, Canada
May 30th, 2012. Oral Pres.: “Stimuli Responsive Nanocomposites Based on Functionalized
Cellulose Nanofibers”
2012
American Chemical Society Spring Conference, San Diego, CA, USA
March 25th, 2012. Oral Pres.: “Light-responsive cellulose nanofiber based materials”
Invited Talk
2011
NanoEvent, Kick-off IC NanoPolymers & Surfaces Conference
Invited talk to i-net Basel, Marly, Switzerland
Nov 22nd, 2011, Oral Pres.: “Cellulose based Bio-Nanocomposites” Invited Talk
2011
Talk at the FHNW Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Windisch, Switzerland
Sept 8th, 2011, Oral Pres.: “Bio-inspired Mechanically-Adaptive Polymer - Cellulose
Based Nanocomposites – Thermal Properties” Invited Talk
2011
Talk at the RMS Foundation, Bettlach, Switzerland
August 29th, 2011, Oral Pres.: “Bio-inspired Mechanically-Adaptive Polymer - Cellulose
Nanofiber Nanocomposites for Bone Reinforcement”
Invited Talk
2011
2011 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Resources,
Washington, D.C., USA
June 6-8, 2011, Oral Pres.: “Toxicology of Cellulose Nanowhisker Based
Nanocomposites”
2011
2011 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Resources,
Washington, D.C., USA
Oral Pres.: “Bio-inspired Mechanically-adaptive Polymer / Cellulose Nanofiber
Nanocomposites”
2011
Talk at the Departments of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of New
Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
May 31st, 2011, Oral Pres.: “Bio-Inspired Mechanically Responsive Polymer
Nanocomposites and Toxicology” Invited Talk
2011
Presentation for PST-FR, Reseau nanotechnologies, Nanotechnologie Netzwerk
May 17th, 2011 Oral Pres.: “Learning From Nature: How Cellulose Nanofibers Can Be
Used to Reinforce Plastic”
2011
American Chemical Society Spring Conference, Anaheim, CA, USA
2011
March 27th, 2011. Oral Pres.: “Mechanically adaptive nanocomposites based on cellulose
nanowhiskers”
Smart Coatings 2011 Symposium, Orlando, USA
Feb 23-25, 2011. Oral Pres.: “Stimuli Responsive Cellulose Nanowhiskers”
Invited Talk
Advisor of Postdoctoral Researchers (3)
2011 – 2013
Dr. Matthew Roberts –Industrial Collaboration with Fresenius Kabi, Frankfurt,
Germany.
2011 – 2012
Dr. Pratheep Annamalai –Industrial Collaboration with Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company, Akron, Ohio, USA. Now materials engineer at TenasiTech, Australia
2010 – 2012
Dr. Sandeep Kumar –Industrial Collaboration with 3D Systems (CTI), Marly,
Switzerland. Now researcher at Du Pont, India.
Advisor of Ph.D. Students (11)
2013 – 2013
Apiradee (May) Nicharat “Solvent free pre-mixing of cellulose nanocomposites”
SNSF Research Programme 66
2013 – 2013
Ainara Saralegi Otamendi “Polyurethane / cellulose nanocrystal based
nanocomposites” as part of the of Spanish Ph.D Formation Exchange Program
with Universidad del País Vasco (Escuela Politécnica)
2012 – 2013
Agueda Sonseca Olalla “Synthesis and characterization of bio-based cellulose
nanocomposites” as part of the of Spanish Ph.D Formation Exchange Program
with Universitat politècnica de València
2012 – Present Janak Sapkota “Processing of Cellulose Nanocomposites” SNSF Research
Programme 66
2011 – Present Bastien Schyrr “New Polymer Based Sensors“ Co-Supervised (with Stephanie
Pasche and Guy Voirin) with Centre Suisse d’Electronique et Microtechnique SA,
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
2011 – Present Sandra Camarero Espinosa “Anisotropic Cellulose Nanocomposites for
Biomedical Implants “SNSF Research Programme 64
2011 – Present Carola Endes “Risk assessment of cellulose nanocrystals“
SNSF Research Programme 64
2011 – Present Silvana Mueller “Cellulose Aerogels“
SNSF Research Programme 64
2011 – Present Tobias Kuhnt
Industrial Collaboration PhD
2011 – Present Mahesh Biyani “Smart Biopolymer Nanocomposites using Light“
SNSF Research Programme 62
2010 – Present Mehdi Jorfi “Smart Biopolymer Nanocomposites for Cortical Electrodes“
SNSF Research Programme 62
Advisor of Undergraduate/Master’s Students (5)
2012
Marcus Forand “Disulphide based switching in nanocomposites”
2011
David Thevenaz “Polyurethane based reactions on the surface of cellulose
nanowhiskers”
Teaching Experience
2013
Instructor, Adolphe Merkle Institute. Graduate Master Classes
Nanoscience, Polymer Chemistry Introduction
2006
Instructor, SFU Chemistry 281/286, Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Lab
• Lectured on organic chemistry techniques and procedures
• Instructed five separate lab sections a week consisting of 60 students
2002 - 2005
Teaching Assistant, SFU Organic Chemistry Lab
• Conducted lab lectures on organic chemistry
• Supervised completion of lab experiments
• Instructed two sections of 32 students twice a week
Publications (30)
Peer Reviewed Articles (18)
18.
17.
16.
15.
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
Espinosa, S.C.; Kuhnt, T; Foster, E.J.* and Weder C* Isolation of thermally stable cellulose
nanocrystals by phosphoric acid hydrolysis. Biomacromolecules. 2013. ASAP DOI:
10.1021/bm400219u
Mahesh V. Biyani, E. Johan Foster,* and Christoph Weder * Light-Healable
Supramolecular Nanocomposites Based on Modified Cellulose Nanocrystals. ACS Macro
Letters 2013 ASAP DOI: 10.1021/mz400059w
Jorfi, M.; Roberts, M.N.; Foster, E.J.* and Weder C* Mechanically-Adaptive BioNanocomposites for Biomedical Applications. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2013 5
(4) pp 1517–1526 DOI: 10.1021/am302030a
Kumar, S.; Hofmann, M.; Steinmann, B.; Foster, E. J.; Weder, C., Reinforcement of
Stereolithographic Resins for Rapid Prototyping with Cellulose Nanocrystals. ACS Applied
Materials & Interfaces 2012, 4, (10), 5399-5407.
Mendez, J.; Annamalai, P. K.; Eichhorn, S. J.; Rusli, R.; Rowan, S. J.; Foster, E. J.*; Weder,
C.*, Bioinspired Mechanically Adaptive Polymer Nanocomposites with Water-Activated
Shape-Memory Effect. Macromolecules 2011, 44, (17), 6827-6835.
Clift, M. J. D.; Foster, E. J.; Vanhecke, D.; Studer, D.; Wick, P.; Gehr, P.; RothenRutishauser, B.; Weder, C., Investigating the Interaction of Cellulose Nanofibers Derived
from Cotton with a Sophisticated 3D Human Lung Cell Coculture. Biomacromolecules
2011, 12, (10), 3666-3673.
Changsarn, S.; Mendez, J. D.; Shanmuganathan, K.; Foster, E. J.; Weder, C.; Supaphol, P.,
Biologically Inspired Hierarchical Design of Nanocomposites Based on Poly(ethylene
oxide) and Cellulose Nanofibers. Macromolecular Rapid Communications 2011, 32, (17),
1367-1372.
Foster, E. J.; Berda, E. B.; Meijer, E. W., Tuning the Size of Supramolecular Single-Chain
Polymer Nanoparticles. Journal of Polymer Science Part a-Polymer Chemistry 2011, 49,
(1), 118-126.
Berda, E. B.; Foster, E. J.; Meijer, E. W., Toward Controlling Folding in Synthetic
Polymers: Fabricating and Characterizing Supramolecular Single-Chain Nanoparticles.
Macromolecules 2010, 43, (3), 1430-1437.
Voisin, E.; Foster, E. J.; Rakotomalala, M.; Williams, V. E., Effects of Symmetry on the
Stability of Columnar Liquid Crystals. Chemistry of Materials 2009, 21, (14), 3251-3261.
Foster, E. J.; Berda, E. B.; Meijer, E. W., Metastable Supramolecular Polymer Nanoparticles
via Intramolecular Collapse of Single Polymer Chains. Journal of the American Chemical
Society 2009, 131, (20), 6964-+.
Lavigueur, C.; Foster, E. J.; Williams, V. E., A simple and inexpensive capillary furnace for
variable-temperature X-ray diffraction. Journal of Applied Crystallography 2008, 41, 214216.
Lavigueur, C.; Foster, E. J.; Williams, V. E., Self-assembly of discotic mesogens in solution
and in liquid crystalline phases: Effects of substituent position and hydrogen bonding.
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2008, 130, (35), 11791-11800.
Lavigueur, C.; Foster, E. J.; Williams, V. E., Modular assembly of elliptical mesogens.
Liquid Crystals 2007, 34, (7), 833-840.
Foster, E. J.; Jones, R. B.; Lavigueur, C.; Williams, V. E., Structural factors controlling the
self-assembly of columnar liquid crystals. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2006,
128, (26), 8569-8574.
Foster, E. J.; Lavigueur, C.; Ke, Y. C.; Williams, V. E., Self-assembly of hydrogen-bonded
molecules: discotic and elliptical mesogens. Journal of Materials Chemistry 2005, 15, (37),
4062-4068.
Foster, E. J.; Babuin, J.; Nguyen, N.; Williams, V. E., Synthesis of unsymmetrical
dibenzoquinoxaline discotic mesogens. Chemical Communications 2004, (18), 2052-2053.
1.
Babuin, J.; Foster, J.; Williams, V. E., An investigation of the mesogenic properties of
dibenzoquinoxaline derivatives. Tetrahedron Letters 2003, 44, (37), 7003-7005.
Patents Submitted (2)
P2.
P1.
Weder, C.; Foster, E. J.; Jorfi, M.; Roberts, M. N. Polymer nancomposite having switchable
mechanical properties. European Patent Application Filed 2012.
Weder, C.; Foster, E. J.; Jorfi, M.; Roberts, M. N.; Breuer-Thal, B.; Witt, R. Medical
injection device. European Patent Application Filed 2012.
Book Contributions (3)
3.
Sapkota, J.; Roberts, M.N.; Weder, C.; Foster, E.J.; Melt Processing of PVAc-Cellulose
Nanocrystal Nanocomposites. In: Production and Applications of Cellulose Nanomaterials;
Postek, M.T.; Moon, R.; Bilodeau, M.; Rudie, A.; Eds.; TAPPI Press. 2013, submitted.
2.
Biyani, M.V.; Jorfi, M.; Weder, C.; Foster, E.J.; Light-Responsive Cellulose-based
Materials. In: Production and Applications of Cellulose Nanomaterials; Postek, M.T.; Moon,
R.; Bilodeau, M.; Rudie, A.; Eds.; TAPPI Press. 2013, submitted.
1.
Camarero Espinsoa, S.; Kuhnt, T.; Weder, C.; Foster, E.J.; Thermally Stable Cellulose
Nanocrystals Isolated By Phosphoric Acid Hydrolysis. In: Production and Applications of
Cellulose Nanomaterials; Postek, M.T.; Moon, R.; Bilodeau, M.; Rudie, A.; Eds.; TAPPI
Press. 2013, submitted.
Conference Proceedings (7)
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Endes, C.; Müller, S.; Schmid, O.; Vanhecke, D.; Foster, E. J.; Petri-Fink, A.; RothenRutishauser, B.; Weder, C.; Clift, M. J. D. “Risk assessment of released cellulose
nanocrystals – mimicking inhalatory exposure” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2013,
429, 012008.
Jennifer S. Haghpanah, Raymond Tu, Sandra DaSilva, Jeffrey W. Gilman, E. Johan Foster,
Christoph Weder, Jin Kim Montclare “Bionanocomposites: Differential effects of tunicate
cellulose whiskers on protein block polymers” ACS PMSE. 2012 243
Mahesh Biyani, E. Johan Foster and Christoph Weder “Polymer nanocomposites with
cellulose nanocrystals” ACS PMSE. 2012 243
Sandeep Kumar, Mehdi Jorfi, E. Johan Foster and Christoph Weder “Polymer
nanocomposites with cellulose nanocrystals” ACS POLY-634. 2011 242
Erik B. Berda, E. Johan Foster and E. W. Meijer “Learning to fold synthetic polymer chains:
Supramolecular single-chain nanoparticles” ACS PMSE-407. 2010 239
Erik B. Berda, E. Johan Foster and E. W. Meijer “Supramolecular single chain
nanoparticles: Toward perfectly folded synthetic polymer chains” ACS POLY-396. 2009 238
E. Johan Foster and E. W. Meijer “Poly(ureido-pyrimidinone-norbornene) based
nanoparticles” ACS PMSE-360. 2008 236